Waiting For A Lifetime
by Xanatara
Summary: In her new home of just six months, Bella's sister Melissa tells her she wants her to meet some people. When it turns out the be the Cullens, what surprises will be in store for our favorite lovebirds? Set 200 years after Edward leaves Bella in New Moon.
1. Prologue

**Waiting For A Lifetime**

Prologue

'Okay, I can do this,' I told myself. But how? They were back here, somewhere I thought they would never come back to, two hundred years after _he_ left me. To the very day. I should have been dead by now. Maybe that's the only reason they came back, because I should be dead by now. It didn't matter, anymore, anyway. _He_ didn't love me, and I didn't…..

Oh who am I kidding? I still loved him. Even after two hundred years, I still loved him. But the true question was, did he still just "love me in a way" like he'd said all those years ago when he left me, standing there in the middle of the forest?

I didn't know and I didn't really want to find out. Yet, at least. But if they were going to be here, then how was I going to avoid the inevitable, in the form of Edward Anthony Masen Cullen?

No doubt, Jasper could feel my mixture of emotions, flowing so quickly from one to another. I sent him an apology wave, and he nodded just slightly, just enough that unless someone was paying very close attention, it wouldn't have been seen. But Alice had noticed, and no doubt, Alice could see something happening already, something that I wasn't fully sure I even wanted yet.

But the real question: What do I want?

I gathered myself together, sighed and said, "I'm going hunting, Meli. I have my phone." And quickly walked out the door.

But not so quick enough that I didn't feel someone following me.


	2. Chapter One

**Dislcaimer: I do not own any of the characters or items in this book other than Melissa Vaughn. She is my own creation. fBella and all the Cullens belong to the wonderful Stephenie Meyer. Congrats on the new book and Time Magazine Top 100 Stephenie! **

* * *

**Chapter One: Cat And Mouse**

"Am I supposed to be happy?  
When all I ever wanted, it comes with a price.  
Am I supposed to be happy?  
With all I ever wanted, it comes with a price.  
You said, you said that you would die for me…  
You must live for me too…"

-Red Jumpsuit Apparatus: Cat and Mouse

'Beep.' My alarm clock told me it was the beginning of a new hour. I rolled over onto my left side, facing the clock and the rest of my room. 4:00 p.m. I sighed. Exactly two hundred years ago, from this very day, month, and hour, _he_ left me. I sat up on my bed and marked my place in my very old, very battered copy of Wuthering Heights. I pushed myself up off of my bed and quickly gathered my undergarments and left my room, closing the door as I headed down the hall to my bathroom.

"Meli," I said evenly, as if she was right in front of me even thought I knew she was downstairs in the living room. "I'm taking a shower."

"Okay," she said, equally as loud as I had spoken. "Hurry up though. There are some people here that I want you to meet."

I sighed and walked into the bathroom. I turned the shower on, making the water as hot as I had since…well, forever. I looked in the mirror and closed the door in my mind, watching as the door close in reality.

As the water heated up, I studied my face in the mirror. It was the same as it had been before I had been changed, though my jaw and cheek bones looked stronger. My hair shone in the light, looking as if I had put glitter or a hair shining product in it. But I didn't, and I never had.

I stepped into the shower and quickly washed my hair in my strawberry shampoo, then rinsed. I put some cucumber melon body wash on a loofa and washed my body, calming my tense muscles and lowering my stress levels as I went. After I'd finished, I wrapped a towel around my body and sat on the edge of the bath tub, waiting as my body dried on its own. But being the impatient person that I am, I unwrapped the towel and dried myself off instead; dressing in dark jeans before realizing that the white tank top that I had stashed in my bathroom earlier today was gone.

I opened the bathroom door, my hair wrapped in a towel on my head. "Meli, where's the white tank top that I left in the bathroom earlier?"

"Opps. Sorry, Bell. I'm kinda wearing it. Take the red one that's on my dresser."

I walked down the backstairs to the third floor and quickly grabbed the tank top. I unrolled the towel that was holding my hair up and put the tank top on. I went back into my bathroom and brushed out my hair, and then used my blow dryer to straighten it-something I only did when I was bored or stalling. Right now, it was the latter. I headed back into my room, grabbing a zippered hoodie and shrugging into it, one hand reaching out to toss a cherry chap stick into a pocket-a habit from when I was human that I had yet to break.

I sat on my bed to think of how I could get out of meeting these new people when a strangely familiar voice, female, broke through my thoughts.

"So a female vampire just randomly attacked her?" Disbelief was plain in her musical voice.

"No. Bella knew the female. She had met her just about a year and a half before with a family of vampires that she'd known," Melissa explained.

"What's Bella's last name?" Another voice, male this time, asked. His voice was calm and methodical, suggesting that he could have been a psychologist, or a school counselor.

'Where have I heard their voices?' I pondered, slightly drawn to actually meeting them now. 'TV? No, I hardly watch any. Radio? No, couldn't be that either. I only listen to the boring news, traffic, and weather update stations. School? That's a definite possibility. There have been quite a few new kids at school, what with all the housing subdivisions going up around here lately.'

"Vaughn," Melissa stated, her tone picking up in happiness just slightly. "I decided to take up her last name instead of keeping mine, so we could play off the sister role a little more convincingly."

I stood up and started walking to the front stairs, quieter than air, and stood silently, waiting for the perfect time to make my entrance.

"What was the name of the family that Bella had known before she was changed?" The same methodical male voice asked; his voice sounding a little more interested than before.

Before I even thought it halfway through, I was a quarter of the way down the stairs and already speaking. "Don't worry about this question, Meli. I've got it. The family that I knew two hundred years ago was the Cullens."

I was near the bottom, and immensely glad that the stairs faced away from the living room, along with the couches they were most likely sitting on, when Melissa spoke again.

"Bella, I'd like you to meet Emmett," no. "Alice," No. "Carlisle," NO. "Esme," NO. "And Edward Cullen," NO! "And Jasper and Rosalie Hale." Oh no. Oh dear god NO! This couldn't be real. I can't sleep so this couldn't be a dream. 'This can't be happening,' I told myself. They can't be here. They couldn't be HERE. Forks, of all places? I mean, REALLY!

"Everyone, this is Bella."

I walked towards the living, towards the couches and arm chairs that held my immediate doom, and sighed when I came to a stop in the middle of the doorway.

"Oh," Jasper began.

"My," Emmett added.

"BELLA!" Alice squealed, finishing off the sentence. She jumped up, and at vampiric speed ran straight at me. I'm sure that if I wasn't as strong as I was, then she would have knocked me through the stairs, the library, the kitchen, and probably the garage too.

She kissed my cheek and held onto me as if I was a bottle of water and she'd been stuck in the Sahara desert for nineteen years. "I'm so sorry we left you. I shouldn't have listened to him. I'm so, so sorry Bella. I've missed you so much." She kept up the apologies until Emmett finally spoke up.

"Stop hogging my little sister, Alice." He then proceeded to rip Alice off of me and crush me in a bear hug that he had never been able to fully give when I had still been a human. "It hasn't been the same without you, Bella. I'm glad you're back." He said.

Esme was next. She hugged me tightly, kissed the top of my head and said, "I'm glad that I now finally have my other daughter back where she belongs."

Carlisle gave me a quick hug and then decided to bring up a bad part of my human life: my clumsiness. "I'm not going to be seeing you in my ER again, now am I?"

Everyone laughed, but Melissa just looked confused.

"Bella here was the clumsiest human in the world. If there was something to trip over within ten miles of her, she would trip over it. Even if it was air." Emmett explained.

Then, Rosalie shocked not only me, but everyone else. She walked up to me and stuck out her hand. I shook her hand and then she spoke. "I'm sorry this happened to you, Bella, but I am glad that you are here with us again."

She went to stand by Emmett who wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed her head in proud approval of her words and actions. Through a gap between Rosalie and Emmett and Carlisle and Esme, I saw Edward stand and begin to walk towards the assembled group.

Before he could move even a foot from the couch that he had been seated at the entire time, I turned towards Jessica and spoke for the first time since she had reintroduced me to my long last family and vice versa.

"I'm going hunting, Meli. I have my phone." I said, walking to the door. I was almost to my car, a black Nissan 350Z, when I felt someone following me. I didn't have to turn around to know that it would be Alice.

I unlocked my car and got in, turning it on as I waited for her to join me.

When she got in, I turned the radio up, a man's voice talking about local Seattle news filling the car to ward off the inevitable conversation that would take place. A conversation that I wanted to avoid as long as I possibly could.

I drove outside of town, heading south on US 101, then heading towards US 12 to get to I-5 to head into southern Oregon. When Alice opened her mouth to speak, I resolutely kept my eyes on the road, one hand reaching out to turn the volume up even higher. Alice's hand was over mine in a second, twisting it and forcing the volume back down.

And then, she started to speak.

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**AN: Woo hoo! Chapter one is up! Thank you to my new Beta, StarryMelody, for being my Beta. Also, thanks goes out to two of my friends who have read and like the story so far. Chapter Two is currently in progress but I will try to get it finished by next week. **

**Thank you again for all the views. You guys are amazing. :**


	3. Chapter Two

**XN: I feel so incredibly bad about posting this so late! Thanks to StarryMelody, my amazing beta, for getting the turn around on bother Chapter One and Chapter Two to be so quick, I am forever grateful.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, or anything Twilight related aside from the books which I purchased, and the tickets to the Seattle Breaking Dawn Concert tour. I'm extremely excited to go. Hope to see some of you there!**

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**Chapter Two: Bruised**

"Hours pass, and she still counts the minutes  
That I am not there, I swear I didn't mean  
For it to feel like this  
Like every inch of me is bruised, bruised  
And don't fly fast. Oh, pilot can you help me?  
Can you make this last? This plane is all I got  
So keep it steady, now  
Cause every inch you see is bruised"

-Jack's Mannequin: Bruised

"Honestly, Bella. How much longer are you going to make not only yourself, but Edward as well, suffer? Two hundred years, he has suffered. I know you're stubborn, Bella, but when did you become masochistic?" Alice Cullen was now turned towards me in the passenger seat of my car, unleashing the full force of her persuading eyes on me.

"You weren't _there_, Alice. You didn't see me after he left. I was, as Dr. Gerandy told Charlie, in a catatonic state for four months. _Four months_. When I finally snapped out of it enough to remember actual details of my life, it had been exactly one year since I came to Forks, when I first laid eyes on all of you… when I first met Edward. And please, please don't try to defend him and lie to me, telling me that he was depressed or that he felt bad, or _any_ of that crap because you have to remember, Alice, _he_ was the one who left _me_ in the middle of the forest and that _he_ was the one who told me that he didn't love me, _not_ the other way around." I finished my rant and I was sure that if I were still human, I would have been red in the face and my breathing would have been labored.

"Okay, Bella, then I won't," she said angrily. "How about I tell you how depressed _I've_ been? Or how bad Jasper feels about your birthday, thinking that it's his fault that all of us have been miserable? Or how Emmett didn't joke for a CENTURY or play pranks? Or how Carlisle and Esme acted as if nothing was wrong around Edward, but were openly mourning the loss of someone they considered to be a daughter around the rest of us for nearly century? If you don't want to think about how Edward feels or felt, then think about the rest of us-your family."

I pulled off to the side of the road and sat there silently for a moment, about a mile from the on ramp to US 12. I breathed in deeply through my mouth, silently telling myself to inhale and exhale, inhale and exhale, temporarily making it my mantra.

"Alice," I began, "I've missed you. I have honestly missed you. All of you. But I'm just not ready to deal with him. I just want to get to Oregon and then we'll drive back up to Seattle and go shopping, okay?"

"Fine. But just because you're bribing me with shopping, even though you absolutely hate shopping, doesn't mean that this discussion is over. It's _far_ from over." But when I glanced at her face a minute later after pulling onto the highway again, she was smiling like a mad hatter.

Alice Cullen was back.

* * *

"You know, I really do have a hard time believing that you were depressed, Alice." I said as we walked back to my car from the forest of a state park which, due to the nicer weather, was filled with humans in the more park-like areas. "I mean, you are the happiest person I've ever met, along with overly hyper-active. I really can't picture you depressed."

"I was. Jasper stayed away from me for a week or more every so often to get a break from my emotions for some forty-odd years after we left. And the funny thing is, even Rosalie missed you. Her jealousy forced her and Emmett to be away from us, and when we all left, she couldn't stand the fact that her actions were a part of her husband's misery. So she finally gave up on her semi-hatred after twenty-five years." She danced ahead of me and sat on the hood of my car."

"Get off of my car, Alice! Do you know how much it cost me to get the paint job changed?" My voice, of course, was joking, but Alice realized that just a little too late.

"Like you don't have a ton of money as it is, Bella. Besides, you can always make the next person who messes it up pay." I unlocked the car and she got in much more gracefully than I did, as I just plopped down into my seat.

I quickly started the car and sped onto I-5 north, heading right back to Seattle.

"You know, Alice-" But she cut me off.

"I know, Bella. You were only joking. You can't blame me for wanting to play along. Oh!" She exclaimed as a sudden thought came to her. "Can we stop in Portland to go shopping too?"

I sighed. Just as I was about to say no, I glanced over and looked at her face. Big mistake, very _big_ mistake. Her bottom lip stuck out and was trembling, almost like she was about to cry, and her topaz eyes were sad and glassy in appearance. "Alice," I whined, "that's not fair…"

She dropped her head down, tucking in her chin and made sniffling noises. "_Fine_! One mall." She looked up and grinned triumphantly. "_One_. And if you ask for more stores or another mall, strip mall or not, then we're going straight back home, and I _mean it_."

"I love you, Bella!" She squealed and threw her arms around me in the process.

We hit Portland soon after that, and I decided that we would go to the Lloyd Center Mall, one that Jessica had shone favoritism for thirty years back.

We were in Nordstrom when it started.

"Bella! You have to get this! This would look amazing on you, and it's Edward's favorite color!" The dress that she said would look amazing on me was a navy blue summer dress with a few white polka dots splattered on the top, and more polka dots concentrated towards the bottom, where the bottom few inches were completely white.

"I'll try it on, but that doesn't mean I'm getting it." I sighed. I knew it was pointless to argue with her, to not do as she asked. I grabbed the dress from her hand and tried it on. When I came out and stood on the platform with a tri-fold mirror in front of it, I was amazed. I hadn't looked in the mirror in the dressing room, but now that I saw myself in this mirror, I thought I looked pretty for the first time in my life. Well, pseudo-life.

"You're getting it, Bella." Alice told me as she stood behind me on the floor.

"I am. It's too pretty to pass up." I commented as I turned around and stepped down onto the floor.

"No, Bella, _you're getting_ _it_." She said, tapping her temple.

I walked back into the dressing room and slipped off the dress, hanging it gingerly on the hanger before I re-dressed myself in my jeans.

Once I paid for the dress, Alice requested that we go into a book store for her magazines. I walked over to the Young Adult section and looked at the books, hoping to find something that I liked.

Ten minutes and twelve books later, including a new copy of Wuthering Heights and The Da Vinci Code, we were out of the store and heading back to my car.

We were nearing Tacoma when she spoke up again.

"Done. I'm bored now." She stated in a perky voice.

"Read The Da Vinci Code, then," I told her, my voice a little more biting than I had wanted it to sound. "Sorry. I'm just…nervous about everything."

"I know, Bella. But I've already read The Da Vinci Code. So we need to stop somewhere. I need more entertainment. I'm booored!" She said, her voice sounding like a petulant whining child.

"We're not stopping 'till we hit Seattle. We'll get a hotel room, watch movies all night, wander around, then go back home." I told her in a firm tone, as if I was her mother.

Her eyes lit up at 'wander around'. "No Alice, no more shopping. You've already wasted enough money today. _No_ arguing. I don't want to hear it." I teased.

The rest of the trip was spent in the same fashion; talking, teasing, Alice begging for shopping, watching movies once we got to the hotel, and once we had watched all the movies we had gotten at the front desk, Alice asked me about my past. All of it.

And so I told her.

All of it.

* * *

I explained to Alice about Victoria's attack, exactly a year to the day that Edward left, my journey to Alaska, moreover, Denali, to Tanya's clan, my journey to Hoquiam eighty years after I had been changed, the previous forty of which I had spent with Tanya, my first forty on my own, staying in an abandoned factory.

I explained how I found my powers, the powers all the Cullen's had, plus my ability to block and use all other powers, and my decision to join Aro and the Volturi. I had asked Tanya about them while I had stayed with her, and had finally decided to join.

Then, finally ending the story, I told her of how I left the Volturi, went to New York City during the winter, and I found Melissa, and then of our journey across the United States and how we finally wound up in Forks, six months ago, and how everything led up to this very moment.

"Bella, you know what this means right?" Alice asked after I finished.

"No…What does it mean, Alice?" I asked cautiously.

"It means today when we go back, you'll be wearing that dress you got yesterday!" She exclaimed.

"Alice, no. That's more of a special occasion dress." I argued.

"Nope. I've already seen it, along with….Oops! Not supposed to tell you that!" She stopped herself mid-sentence, looking like a little girl who had stolen a cookie from the cookie jar before dinner after being told not to.

"Seen what, Alice?" I asked. No answer. "Alice? Tell me what you saw. Or I'll force it out of you. You know I can." I threatened.

"You can, but you won't." She said in a sing-song voice.

"And how do you know?" I asked, amazed at her self assurance.

"Because Bella, you're not one to do things like that." She said kindly.

"Alice, you haven't seen me in two hundred years. You don't know what I'm like now _at all. _For all you know, I could have drastically changed in the last two hundred years."

"You didn't," she stated confidently, "now go get dressed. I want to go already. I want to see the look on their faces…" Her voice drifted off thoughtfully. I grabbed the dress from the bed and went into the bathroom. I put my hair in a half-up, half-down pony tail and swiped on some Cherry Chap Stick. Again. For the fiftieth time that day. And it was only 5:15 am.

We quickly checked out of the hotel after I fought against Alice's wish to put make up on me. The car ride was spent doing more talking and teasing, telling more stories about our lives over the past two hundred years, when my car suddenly stopped working.

Two miles away from the house.

We started walking at human pace, and when we were about a mile or mile and a half into the two mile walk, an argument began.

"Bella," Alice started. "You need to forgive Edward."

"No, Alice, I don't _need_ to do _anything_. He hasn't even apologized or said a single word to me!" I told her. I was afraid of what Edward would say. More importantly, I was afraid of myself. I didn't want to get destroyed like I did when he left. What if he left again? I wouldn't be able to take it. I know I wouldn't.

"You never gave him a chance to, Bella!" She contradicted me. "As soon as he tried to say a word, you ran off under the pretense of hunting. If that's not cowardice, then I don't know what is." She stopped and crossed her arms over her chest, looking at me like I knew exactly what she was talking about. And I did. Holy cow, I _was_ a coward.

"Alice, I'm going to give him a chance to explain when we get back, okay?" I said, feeling as if my long dead heart was going to start beating again.

"Bella, that won't be good enough! Don't you see? He's thinking that you don't love him anymore!" She shouted.

I turned around to face her; I could feel the outrage in my veins and the anger coursing through them as well. "What do you expect me to do, Alice? Run into his open arms?!" I screamed at her. At this point, we were maybe half a mile away from the house that I shared with Melissa, but I wasn't sure if they could hear us or not.

"You don't have to right now, but it would be nice after we talk." His musical voice came from behind me, the same melting honeyed tone that I remembered from my human days.

That gave me my answer on whether or not they could hear us.

"Edward Anthony Masen Cullen, you are _not_-"Alice began, before I cut her off.

" Alice , take everyone to your house. No one is to listen. Jasper," I said as everyone began to show up, "no emotion manipulation. Alice, no looking for anyone's future unless there is immediate danger involved. And Melissa?"

"Yes?" She asked nervously.

"No, and I mean absolutely _no_ mind control over Edward. We need to speak without any interruptions or _help_ from any of you. Okay?" I asked the group.

A general murmur of consent came from the group.

"Good. Now get out of here." I smiled and everyone laughed and suddenly disappeared.

And then there were two.

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**XN:Woo hoo! Chapter Two done. Coming in Chapter Three: The Truth About Heaven, Edward and Bella have a much needed talk, Edward discovers a few things about Bella's vampire past, and Bella comes to a conclusion. : )**

**Hopefully, Chapter Three will be up sometime this week. **

**Review please? 800 views! : )**


	4. Chapter Three

**XN: Chapter three is here! : Thanks to all my reviewers, you guys are awesome. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, only Meli. :) She is my own character, and was formerly Jessica. **

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**Chapter Three: The Truth About Heaven**

"Found my way back in the dark tonight,  
Couldn't wake up not right next to you,  
I'd trade in forever to just hear you say the sound of my name,

But that's not why I'm here,  
I came down here to tell you it rains in heaven all day long,  
I wanna find you so bad and let you know  
I'm miserable up here without you, miserable up here without you"

-Armor For Sleep: The Truth About Heaven

"Bella…" He began, his voice more questioning than confident. We were now sitting in the living room, him sitting like a proper gentleman on the couch, while I was stretched out across the large over-stuffed armchair across from him. "Bella." He tried again, this time his voice was stronger and more confident in what he was trying to convey from thoughts to words. "I am _so sorry_. I am so sorry for leaving you. I thought that if I left you, you would be safe; not only from me, but from all of my kind."

"Finally! The _great_ Edward Cullen admits to being WRONG!" My sarcasm dripped thickly from my words. "But you were as wrong about that as were my thoughts that I could avoid you as what I am now, when I knew we would find each other again, but I hoped and prayed to any gods that exist that it wouldn't be true."

"What do you mean? How would you have known?" His voice and face showed a true sign of complete and utter bewilderment at my simple statement of fact.

"Oh, Meli didn't tell you?"

"Tell me _what_?" He was confused, a first, I am sure, about something I said for the first time.

"About my powers," I said. His face was still confused. His eyes betrayed his thoughts. "Finally, she isn't a blabber mouth around people for once," I mumbled under my breath. "I can see the future, read minds, manipulate emotions, I am stronger than most, like Emmett, and I am also telekinetic. I can also block any one person's power, or multiple at a time, when it is being used against me in battle, or when I am familiar with a person. The person, or more accurately, vampire, cannot use that power against me or around me unless I enable them to do so after I have blocked it." His face was now amazed, his jaw slack, his mouth nearly hanging open. Bingo, I thought. Finally I surprised him. "When I am more familiar with a vampire, I can block their power from as far away as Italy, or more accurately, Volterra and the Volturi."

"Prove it," He said softly in a bewildered and uncertain tone.

"Fine," I said simply and focused. I opened up my mind to him, allowing him to hear my every thought for the first time. His face lit up when he heard my mind repeating over and over, 'Block mind reading, block mind reading' for around thirty seconds, like a mantra, picturing Aro Volturi all the while.

My phone rang. I smiled and answered it, putting it on speaker. "Hello, Aro. How are you today?" I asked cheerfully. Edward's mouth was hanging open. I could picture it in China.

"Now, Bella, what have I told you about blocking my powers at random moments just for fun?" His voice was nurturing, like a father's, but disapproving at the same time. I could just _hear_ him smiling.

"So it's true." Edward said, amazed, before finally realizing that his jaw had been hanging open.

"Bella, is that Edward Cullen? Hello, Edward. Yes, it's true. Bella is quite the talented one. She gave Alec and Jane a run for their money." Aro chuckled. "She has the most interesting abilities I've ever seen since they joined us."

"How do you know Bella, Aro?" Edward's voice now held not only confusion, but an angry tone I'd never heard before, and a dangerous edge that I knew only too well.

"About a hundred and thirty years ago, Bella came and worked for us. That lasted for roughly thirty years, and then she left to live in New York City, where she met Melissa. They come back every few years and stay for a month or so."

Then, with his voice as angry as I'd ever heard it-even angrier than just a moment before- he growled, "Good-bye, Aro." He then proceeded to grab my phone and hurl it across the room, straight against the wall where it broke into at least a hundred pieces.

"_WHAT_ was that for? Do you know how much that _COST_? And what about the valuable information I had on there? You can't just _do_ that to someone's phone! I-Edward?" I asked cautiously. His eyes were black, darker than the endless night that I had lived in for so many years, darker than I had ever seen before.

Because we were both standing at that point, it made it easier for him to grab my upper arms and pull me nearly flush against his body, but my height of 5'4" compared to his overwhelming height of 6'2" was nothing. He bent his head down and looked straight into my eyes; topaz-to-topaz.

"Did you partake in any of their meals?" He growled. His anger was palpable as well as shoving its way straight into my brain, making me just as angry.

"No, Edward, I didn't. I can't believe that you would think so_ little _of me, to think that I would kill a human just for my own dietary needs. I have never killed a human, nor have I drunk the blood of a human." Telling Edward of my life, how I had lived for the last two hundred years, as I had told Alice only a few hours before, troubled me, though I wasn't sure why.

He breathed a sigh of relief, and loosened his grip on my arms, but still held them in his now gentle grasp. "I'm…sorry, Bella. I doubted you when I had no reason to. It's just hard for me. I knew everything about you-what and when you ate, your sleeping habits, your clothing choices, what made you comfortable and uncomfortable, everything- and now, to know nothing of you and your life for these last two hundred years…it's hard." He moved us to the couch he had occupied the entire time and we sat side by side, not touching, talking, or looking at each other.

Minutes, possibly an hour or so, had passed when I finally spoke up.

"Edward?" My voice was cautious and questioning, yet somehow strong and confident at the same time.

"Yes?" He turned towards me, but I continued to stare at the wall, specifically at Andy Warhol Self-Portrait No.9 from 1986 that Melissa had had since her childhood that I loved.

"Alice told me something, and I want to know if it's true or not."

"Of course, Bella, what is it?" Now his voice was cautious, and curious, too.

"Do you still love me?" I asked so quickly that I wondered if he had even heard me. I knew that he could though. I'd heard Alice talk faster than I had and the others had still heard her and understood her words perfectly.

"Yes," He answered simply. His voice was so matter-of-fact that there was only one way I could disprove his answer.

I had to listen to his thoughts.

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**XN: I know, short chapter. I'm working on chapter four, so don't kill me yet. Thanks again to my reviewers, and my beta StarryMelody, for being absolutely amazing. :)**

**I'm going to be starting up a new story soon, a Harry Potter story, and I can only hope that it's as good as this. :)**


	5. Chapter Four

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XN: Wow. Chapter four already! I need to get writing!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, or any of the characters, aside from Melissa and any other character that I create. :)**

* * *

**Chapter Four: Paperthin Hymn**

"Who's going to call on Sunday morning? Who's going to drive you home?

I just want one more chance

To put my arms in fragile hands

I thought you said forever

Over and over

A sleepless night becomes

Bitter oblivion"

-Anberlin: Paperthin Hymn

"Bella, you don't have to listen to my thoughts to know what I said is true. Listen to your _heart_," Edward said, slightly startling me.

How did he know that I had planned to listen to his mind? Unless…

"Unless what, Bella?" Edward asked, sounding slightly confused.

"Edward! Why didn't you tell me that you could still hear my thoughts?" I demanded, quickly blocking my thoughts from him yet again.

"Bella," he said calmly. "I've heard your thoughts for the first time ever and you want me to tell you that I can still hear your mind, just so you can block me out again?" He asked, outrage and hurt plain in his voice.

"Forget it, Edward." I said dismissively, standing. I straightened out my shirt and jeans, then spoke again. "I need to make a phone call to arrange some things." I walked into the kitchen and grabbed the phone and opened up my mind to listen to Edward's thoughts as I hit speed dial 2 and waited for the male voice to answer.

"Hullo?" A musical voice came.

"Natey!" I teased.

'NATEY? Who the _hell_ is _NATEY_?!' Edward's thoughts rang in my mind as clear as if he had spoken them aloud.

"Hello, Bella. What brings this call on this lovely day?" Nate Young asked me.

"I'm leaving next week for Italy with Meli. Are you guys going to join us?" I asked.

'What the-oh. Nate must be her boyfriend. Of course she has a boyfriend. How could my beautiful, beautiful Bella not?' Edward's thoughts were-sincere? Resentful? And…Jealous? For what reasons?

"How could we not? Jane's always fun to tease and Heidi's an easy target to prank. And daddy dearest would kill us if we didn't. You know how Aro is." Nate said.

"How's Stephen doing?" I asked, concern coating my voice.

"He's good. He actually just walked in the door. Did you want talk to him?" Nate asked.

"Yeah. Put him on." I said, smiling.

"STEPHEN! PHONE!" I heard Nate yell away from the phone.

"Hello?" Stephen answered.

"Hello, sir. This is the United States Federal Reserve," I said in a fake, deep male baritone voice. "There seems to have been an error in your favor. We are returning eight and a half million dollars to you. What we need to know is if you would like that in a check, cash, or wired to your bank account. Which would you prefer, sir?"

"Hang on just a moment," He said. "NATE!" He yelled away from the phone. "WHO THE HELL IS ON THE PHONE?! IT SURE AS HELL ISN'T THE FEDERAL RESERVE TELLING ME THEY OWE ME EIGHT AND A HALF MILLION DOLLARS!"

"I'm kidding, Stephen. It's Bella." I told him in my normal voice. "You are so gullible!" I laughed.

"Bella!" Stephen said happily. "What are you up to, sweetie?"

I ignored his 'sweetie' comment, just to hear Edward's reaction.

"Nothing. I was just telling Nate that Meli and I are going to Italy next week and I was wondering if you guys were going to come with us." I explained.

'SWEETIE! Wait, wasn't it Nate that was her boyfriend? Unless…'

"Unless what, Edward?" I asked him innocently.

"Edward's there? As in Edward Cullen?" Stephen asked, his voice getting angry.

"Yes, Stephen. He is." I said resignedly. I never knew he was going to react this way about Edward being back in my life. At least in the way that he was back in my life at this moment.

"I'll be there in fifteen. Twenty tops." Stephen growled.

"No, Stephen, you won't. It's not going to do you any good to drive from Seattle to Forks that fast just to have me stop you because of your anger. And you know I can beat you any day and anytime." I told him. Then, my voice softened: "I don't want to hurt you, Stephen. You know that. Don't make me break promises."

"Alright. But if he so much as says something wrong to you, you call me. Understand?" Stephen made me promise.

After we finished the phone call, promising to meet at Sea-Tac airport next Tuesday, I hung up and returned to the living room.

"Before you ask or say anything, Edward, yes, Stephen likes me, but he is only my brother. Nate as well. Nate and Meli have feelings for each other, but are too stubborn to act on them. I met Nate and Stephen in Volterra my first year there and we're like siblings. We've always stayed in the same state since I left." I told him.

"Do you feel anything for Stephen?" Edward asked softly.

"No," I whispered. I stood there, my head cocked to the right, bowed slightly, just enough so that I couldn't see Edward.

"Oh, Bella," He said softly. Then, all of a sudden, in the same quickness that I remembered, he was standing in front of me, his arms wrapped around me. He took my chin between his thumb and index finger and lifted my face to look at him.

"Bella…" He whispered, just before his head bowed down, his lips-

"EDWARD!" Alice Cullen burst through the door, everyone following behind.

"Victoria is in Seattle. She's looking for Bella." She said simply, completely ignoring the fact that Edward had almost kissed me for the first time in over two hundred years.

* * *

**XN: Oooo, cliff hanger! Chapter five may take a while; this chapter went WAY away and straight through Australia from my plan. **

**Review please? :)**


	6. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five: Madi Don't Leave**

"Madi dear, can't we just disappear  
And take our chances on a teenagers romances?  
Put our money where our mouth is?

It takes a lot to make me  
Pretty angry and very sad.  
I'm looking towards the outcome,  
there must be some hidden reason."

-Playradioplay!: Madi Don't Leave

The Cullen's, excluding Edward, and Melissa had been arguing about different ways to take care of Victoria for over an hour and a half before I finally got tired of it, stood up, and told them all to stop.

"Alice," I said, looking directly into her eyes. "Do you know when Victoria plans to act?"

"Not exactly, no," She said exasperatedly. "But I know that in the vision, it's raining. Pouring, really."

"What else is in the vision?" Carlisle asked calmly.

"She's at a school, in Seattle, or somewhere close by. An elementary school. She's…she's waiting for a little boy, about eight, maybe nine years old. She's grabbing a hold of his hand and taking him to a car, a Ford, it looks like. A truck. They're leaving the school, heading to an apartment building. They go in, they grab a few things. They get back in, and the travel. North. To Forks."

"The little boy, does he have black hair?" I asked, trying not to let the panic in my voice slip through, though Edward and Jasper both pick up on it quickly.

"No, red. Similar to Victoria's, but a little darker." She told me.

"In that case, we know she won't be coming soon. She's going to wait a least a month. So, with that being said, Melissa and I have packing to do, I need to get a new phone, and I need to book plane tickets. I'll leave you to do whatever." I told them. Melissa stayed there, talking with Rosalie. Alice ran up the stairs ahead of me at vampire speed, while I walked at a human pace and was sitting on my bed waiting for me, with what looked like a very small, very thin box in her hand, throwing it up in the air, when I got there.

"What do you have, Alice?" I asked, my curiosity getting the best of me.

"Your new phone. I had a feeling you would need a new one. This one is the same as your last, but it's the newer version, and Jasper made it practically unbreakable." She told me, handing me my new phone.

"Thanks, Jasper!" I shouted in the general direction of the living room as I scrolled through all the contacts that were on my old phone that were now on my new phone. I felt a slight breeze behind me, and then a pair of arms wrapped around my shoulders and quickly turned my head to see Jasper running back downstairs, hearing Alice's laughter.

An hour or so later, Alice went back downstairs after helping me book plane tickets for Melissa and I, and I finally had my room to myself. I slipped the headphones to my iPod into my ears and put it on shuffle, the first song was Never Take Friendship Personal by Anberlin, I smiled at the irony, and pulled out my new copy of The Da Vinci Code, and began reading.

I read for the rest of the day, finishing the book quickly. When I glanced up at the clock after finishing my book, I saw that it was seven in the morning. I sighed. Another day gone, only the rest of forever to go.

I walked down the stairs after quickly changing and found Melissa gone, a note from her on the counter saying she was at the Cullen's, and Edward sitting in the kitchen, his presence shocking me.

"Morning," I greeted him cheerily.

"Morning," He said, equally as happy.

"What's got you happy this morning, Edward?" I asked him, moving around in the kitchen to the sink to wash my hands, just for something to do.

"Well, it seems that I'm going to Italy next week." He told me, his mouth moving to make a grin that stretched from ear to ear.

"Oh, no you're not!" I said, turning around quickly, my right hand pointing directly at his chest, the water on my hand splashing him in the face, making him flinch ever so slightly. "You are NOT going to Italy with us! Stephen ALREADY wants you dead for what you did before, I'd rather not be responsible for your death while I'm trying to relax and be on vacation."

He got up from his stool and put his hands on my waist, forcing me to put my hands on his chest and I tried to gently shove him away from me. "Well, Bella, you can't be responsible for my death, because technically I died in 1918 by the hand of Carlisle, even though I was nearly dead from the Spanish Influenza. So it would be rather hard for this Stephen fellow to kill me when I'm already dead."

I sighed and leaned into him, resting my forehead on my chest and inhaled deeply. He smelled just as good, no, _better_, than I remembered. He kissed the top of my head as I said, "Please don't go to Italy, Edward. I need this time alone. Promise me."

He sighed. I could tell he didn't like the idea of being separated by 3000 miles, the Atlantic Ocean, and a few hundred or thousand more miles, even though we had been separated from each for two hundred years. "I promise you, Bella, I won't go to Italy unless it's absolutely necessary."

"Thank you," I whispered and reached up to kiss his cheek, just as he turned his head towards mine, and our cold, hard, marble lips met in a kiss.

Oh _God_, I thought sighing against his mouth. How could I have lived _two hundred years _without this? _How_? I must be a mad woman.

Our lips moved together, his quickly taking over everything as I very near fainted with how it felt to be kissing Edward again. Finally, his lips moved away from mine, making a trail from my lips, up to my cheek, to the corner of my jaw, to my ear, where he whispered, "I've missed you so much, Bella." And then proceeded to kiss his way back to my lips, when suddenly, the phone rang.

"I-I have to get that," I stuttered, trying to think clearly. He chuckled against my mouth and pulled away, letting his arms drape loose enough around my waist so that I could easily pull away and grab the phone.

"Hello?" I answered, not recognizing the number.

"Hi, Bella." Alice said in a voice that said 'I saw what just happened and you are going to tell me about it'. Oh _joy_.

"What is it, Alice?" I said, not exactly thrilled that she interrupted us, again. Edward's head jerked up at the mention of his sister's name, and the look on his face looked something less than happy. I switched the phone to speaker phone so that Edward could hear this devilish little pixie vampire's explanation.

"Oh, I just wanted to say congratulations." Alice said airily.

"For what?" I asked, quickly and effectively cutting off any outburst Edward was most likely about to serve.

"For getting back with Edward, silly! Now, when I get there in roughly an hour, I still have a few things to take care of, you are going to explain everything to me." Alice said, sounding very much the hyper active little pixie that she was.

"That, Alice, will not be happening." Edward said, taking the phone from my hand. "You will leave Bella alone about this matter unless she chooses to talk to you about it." He returned the phone to my hand, and as he walked out of the kitchen, he said, "Oh, and Alice? We're not going to Italy. Cancel those tickets, would you?"

The next few days, leading up to the hour before Melissa and I left for Sea-Tac Airport Tuesday morning, were calm. We had gotten our packing done in a matter of minutes, aside from last minute items, like iPod's, make-up bags(with what few items of "make-up" that I owned), cell phones and chargers, and my laptop. Edward and I had been alone at the house, which Emmett had recently dubbed 'The Hideout', and had the opportunity to talk and be at peace away from the rest of the Cullen's, and relax, getting used to each others company and constant presence once again.

* * *

"Meli, let's GO! We're going to be LATE!" I shouted to her from where I sat in the driver's seat of Edward's Volvo that he still owned. He was going with us to the airport and had agreed to let me drive.

"I'm coming, MOM!" She laughed, stressing on the word 'mom'.

We got there in record timing, "thanks to your crazy driving", according to Melissa, though I noticed that Edward had held a very tight grip on the handle of the door, and when I glanced at it before getting out of the car once I had parked, I noticed that it was significantly smaller than it had been before the drive.

We got checked in, and Edward met us on the other side of the security gates after going over the ropes at vampire speed, and Melissa, Edward and I quickly headed over towards the Starbucks near our gate.

"Edward, back in 2005, do you remember a band called Anberlin?" I asked him, my mind already plotting.

"Yes, why?" He asked me. We were almost to the Starbucks that Nate, Stephen, Melissa, and I always meet at when we're in Seattle.

"Do you remember the name of the drummer and the vocalist?" I asked him, stopping him in the middle of the very large corridor, the people moving around us impatiently, and rather rudely, bumping into our shoulders and one man actually shoved me into Edward before he caught me and set me straight before speaking.

"Yes. Stephen Christian and Nathan Young, I believe. What does this have to do with anything, Bella?" He asked me. He was confused, I could easily tell.

I quickly pulled him into the Starbucks to where Nate and Stephen were waiting for Melissa and I, impatient as always.

"Edward, I'd like you to meet Nathan Young and Stephen Christian. Nate, Stephen, this is Edward Cullen." I told them all, making the proper introductions.

Edward looked like he swallowed a rather large and slimy fish, with his eyes bulging out of their eye sockets a bit, Nate looked like he was about to burst out laughing, due to the looks on Edward and Stephen's faces, and Stephen looked like he was about to jump over the table separating us and kill Edward right then and there.

"Stephen, don't move or I will hurt you later. Do not doubt me." I growled at him in a low voice. So low, in fact, that there was no possible way that any human could have possibly heard me. "Now, Edward and I have discussed what happened all those years ago," I said in a normal voice, although low so as not to be eavesdropped on. "And while I didn't understand at the time, Edward left me to protect me. Namely, from Victoria. But, she is back in Seattle and looking for me. We don't see her attacking soon, maybe in a month or so, but when we get back, you guys are moving in with Melissa and I, just for extra precautions, in case we need backup at a moments notice. No one, and I mean, no one, will be attacking any of the Cullen's, include Jasper and Rosalie Hale, or you will find yourself in a world of pain. Understood?"

"Yeah," Nate and Stephen said together. Nate's reply had more of an excited tone to it, while Stephen merely grumbled his.

"Sorry, Edward, but we need to go. The flight's going to be boarding in two minutes and counting. I'll call you when we get there." I promised him. I kissed his cheek, grabbed Melissa's elbow, and walked out of the shop.

"Hurt her again and you will end up exactly like James and Laurent," I heard Stephen threaten Edward in a low, dangerous voice.

"If I could, I would take back every millimeter of pain I have ever caused her. But I can't, so I can only attempt to make it up to her in anyway she allows me to." I heard Edward say, and I could almost feel my dead heart flutter to life again for a second.

"Stephen, Nate, let's go." I said, turning away from the shop, heading towards the gate again.

"He really loves you, doesn't he?" Melissa asked me.

"Which one?" I asked her with a laugh.

"Edward." She said, looking at me as we continued walking.

"Yeah, I guess he does," I said, my voice lowering. Suddenly, I felt something against my side and looked down at the pocket to my jeans, and saw a slight bulge where there wasn't one just a few seconds ago. I reached into the right hip pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper with my name on it in Edward's calligraphy. I tucked it back into my pocket, stowing it away for safe keeping until I could read it a little more privately on the plane.

Nate and Stephen caught up to us, boarding pass and ticket in hand, along with their passports, when Meli and I were in line, waiting to board with only two people in front of us.

Once we were on the plane, we got into our seats, and the other three quickly pulled out their iPod's and were zoned out in a matter of seconds.

We got up into the air to our cruising altitude and I had my headphones in as well, when I finally pulled out Edward's note.

"Bella," he wrote.

"_Bella,_

_Even though I wish you had not gone, I know and understand that you need this time alone to think. I respect your decision and I am grateful that you are allowing me back into your life even after everything I have done to you. I cannot wait for you to return so that I can see you, my beautiful Bella, again. Have fun and enjoy your time in Italy. Be safe._

_I love you,_

_Edward"_

I smiled. Just like Edward to say be safe, even when I'm a vampire.

For the rest of the flight, I re-read the note, even though by the time I had read it three times, I had it memorized, and no one bothered me about anything.

When we got outside, grateful that it was night due to the fact that there was absolutely no cloud cover, I immediately spotted Heidi and Demetri waiting for us with a car, a red Ferrari.

The ride was quiet. I stared out the window, my palm under my chin, fingers curled up to rest just under my nose. When we were halfway in between Volterra and the airport, Meli leaned into me and said, "What's got you so quiet? And…smiling? Bella, you're smiling! You're smiling in that way that tells me you have a secret. Spill it."

I grinned at her. "It's nothing. Edward just slipped a note into my pocket before we left."

"_Really_? And what did this 'note' say?" She demanded in a voice that you wouldn't suspect was demanding unless you knew her like I did.

"Only that he respects my decision, is grateful I'm giving him a second chance, and to have fun." I told her, still facing the window, watching as the first bits of the sun peeked over the hills of Italy.

"You're WHAT?" Stephen demanded.

"I'm giving him a second chance, Stephen. I don't see why it's such a big deal." I said in an off-hand voice, as if this matter wasn't at all important.

"Bella, he completely _destroyed_ you. Nate, Meli, and I, along with Aro and a few others, including Heidi and Demetri," he said gesturing towards them with his hand. "Were left to pick up the pieces, and put you back together. If you think I'm going to stand by-"

"It is _not_ your decision on who I let into my life, Stephen." I hissed at him. We pulled into the garage on the backside of the castle and before it had even stopped, I was out of the car, grabbing my things and up to my room before anyone else had moved.

As soon as the door slammed shut, thank the gods it was metal, I slammed my suitcase onto my bed and was pulling out my laptop a few minutes later, after splashing cool water on my face, when Meli walked in.

"I'm sorry about Stephen, Bells. You know he only wants to protect you. You're his little sister." She explained sadly.

"I-I know. But it isn't his place to judge Edward, or any of the Cullen's, when they were just trying to protect me for my own good." I told her, quickly setting up and turning on my laptop.

"He doesn't know that, though, Bella. You haven't told him that. You know he can't read minds like you can." She smiled. She was right. Like usual. I sighed.

"I know. I'm going to play a quick round of FreeCell, and then I'm going hunting," I told her. "No," I cut her off. "I need this on my own, okay? Next time, I promise."

"Fine," She huffed then smiled.

I played my quick round of FreeCell and shut off my laptop. "Alright, out, Meli. I'm leaving now."

"Fine." She glanced at my desk. "Aren't you going to bring your phone?" She looked up at me questioningly.

"No. I need time to think. Sorry. I won't be long, though. A couple hours at most." I told her. As soon as I had ushered her out of my room, I shut and locked the door and quickly left the castle under the cover of a long black cloak. As soon as I reached the outside of the gate to Volterra, I ran. As far and fast as I could, away from humans, straight into the deepest forest I could easily find.

The hunt wasn't as mind consuming, by way of thoughts, as I thought it would have been today. It was like laundry-it kept my hands busy, but not my mind. After I hunted, I sat down in the middle of a small clearing to think and to relax.

Suddenly, I felt something in the back of my mind, a little alarm, I guess, that someone was trying to talk to me through my mind, and trying very hard. So hard, that if I was still human, I would surely have a migraine. I opened my mind and Meli's thoughts came flooding into my mind.

'_Bella, get back here now. You're phone has been ringing for the last hour. I think it's an emergency'_

I swore and quickly stood, fastening the cloak around my shoulders once more, and took off straight for Volterra, not bothering about humans.

The buzzing in my head got louder and louder as I continued towards the castle, so it must have been from one of the guard or Volturi. I closed off my mind again, thanking who or whatever gave me this power so that I didn't have to listen to annoying buzzing all the time.

I quickly got up to my room, not stopping once, even though I heard Aro and a few others call out to me, and pulled open my door, not bothering to unlock it, and went to my phone. Sure enough, there were seventy-two missed calls on my phone, all from Alice Cullen, the call log showed, and only one voice mail.

I quickly entered in my four digit access code to get into my voice mail, and soon, Alice's normally soothing voice, now stressed with hidden worry, was filling my ear.

'_Bella, as soon as you get this, I need you to call me back. It's very important, a matter of life and death. Well, not-oh, you know what I mean._ Hurry. Please.' She said. There was definite stress in those last two words, a plea she normally never had. Something must be terribly, terribly wrong.

I hit re-dial and soon, Alice was on the phone. "Bella?" She asked quickly.

"Yes, Alice, it's me. What's wrong?" I asked; worry coating my voice as well.

"Bella, I need you to open your mind. Either to read my mind or to your visions, _Please._" More added stress. What in the name of the seven pits of Hades was going on?

I opened my mind and was quickly hit with the onslaught of a vision. Of Edward. Torn in pieces. Oh, Gods. And Victoria walking closer and closer…

'Your pathetic little family couldn't protect you. Too bad I won't get to that little twit of a girl you love so much. I had fun with her, all those years ago, did you know that? Of course, I didn't get to finish because of those damned wolves, but I got my revenge- partially at least. So, little Edward, where's your family-'

But then I flew in and landed on her back, quickly ripping of her head and throwing it in the fire, closely followed by the rest of her. And then I turned and saw Edward.

'Oh, no, Edward. Edward, can you hear me? EMMETT!! JASPER! Carlisle….Alice…?' I shouted, my voice quickly deteriorating, due to my dry sobbing over Edward's chest, and soon they came rushing, those I called and the others, looking completely horrified, but Alice looked oddly calm, having already seen this before.

"I'll be there in two days. Do not let him out of your sight," I ordered her, turning on my laptop again. "I'm going to be ordering a ticket home in just a minute. Alice?"

"Yes?" She asked, her voiced worried, not just for Edward, but for me.

"If you let him out of your sight, even for a second, you will be held responsible, do you understand me?" I demanded. I knew I shouldn't blame her, somewhere in the back of my mind, but I couldn't help it. My anger was the first and foremost emotion my mind could handle over this at this point.

"I know, Bella," She said, her voice resigned. "Hurry home, please."

"I just ordered my ticket. It leaves in three hours. I'll be home soon. Tell Edward…"I paused; my voice cracked slightly, hopefully not so much so that Alice could detect it. "Tell Edward I love him."

"I will, Bella. We all love you." And then she was gone. I turned off my computer yet again, and flung it into my carry-on, quickly putting anything that was unpacked into my bag, when Meli came in.

"Bella, what are you doing? We just got here!" She exclaimed.

"I have to go home," I told her, packing my last item, a pair of flip-flops that I had worn on the plane, having traded them for a pair of good, but expensive, running shoes.

Suddenly, Stephen and Nate were right there beside Meli, all standing in front of my door, as if they thought that they could stop me by standing in front of it.

"Bella, if you think you have to leave because of what I said, I'm sorry," Stephen apologized. "Even if it's not because of me, I'm still sorry."

"I know," I told him with a sigh. "Look, Edward is in trouble and he needs me. Victoria…she's going to attack him. And it's going to leave me devastated. I've seen the vision; it's going to happen soon. I have a ticket, and I'm going home to protect him."

"What are you going to do for a car when you get to Sea-Tac?" Nate asked amusement in his voice. He knew the answer.

"Steal one." I said simply.

"Bella, if you let us go with you, we can use our car and get there so much faster," Nate reasoned.

I thought about this. He was right. Their car could get them from Seattle to Forks in a little under half an hour-faster than my 350 Z, which was at home, parked in the garage.

"Fine. The flight leaves in," I glanced at my watch. "Two and a half hours. Get your things, book your tickets, and hurry. I'll be waiting in the Ferrari."

I got down to the car, had my things in the trunk, the trunk still open so they could throw their things in just that much quicker, revving the engine impatiently, when Aro walked into the garage, and I groaned.

"Now, Isabella, is that any way to treat your father?" Aro asked teasingly.

"Aro," I said as the others came out, threw their things in the trunk, shut it and got in. "We have to leave. I'm sorry. We'll come back in December over Christmas break, hopefully with some new guests."

And then I was out of the garage, speeding to the gate, flying through, nearly hitting a small family, a mother, a father, and a daughter, on the way, but slowing down just enough so that I missed them by inches, and was halfway to the airport already when the clock struck the new hour.

We were there and check in fifteen minutes later, the others going through security as I waited very impatiently for them on the other side, when my phone rang again.

"Hello?" I answered quickly, not bothering to look at the caller ID, just as the other three were past security. We rushed down the corridor to our gate, getting weird looks from nearly everybody.

"Bella, it's Jasper."

"What's wrong Jasper?" I asked just as we got to our gate. We quickly sat down, not bothering with looking human or not at this point. Family was in danger, and we would be damned if he was taken.

"Alice's emotions are all over the place. Do you know what's going on?" He asked me, concern coating his normally withdrawn tone.

"Have her share her latest vision with you. Meli, Nate, Stephen, and I are at the airport. We're heading home. Alice knows. When she shows you the vision, you'll know why. Please don't tell Edward," I pleaded.

"Of course. I'm glad you're coming back. He's worn out the carpet in five rooms from pacing." He told me, a bit of amusement slipping into his voice.

"Just like Edward to worry. Jasper, I need you to protect him. Don't let him out of your or Alice's sight. _Please_." I asked him, worry now in my tone.

"Of course. I'll see you in a while." And then he was gone. I put my phone away. And turned to the others. "Someone check and see if we can board yet."

"They just called our seats. Let's go." Nate told us.

We quickly boarded the plane, took our seats, and as soon as we were in the air, all the others either sleeping or headphones in their ears, I turned to the other three.

"Okay, here's the plan…"


End file.
